Philadelphia tops Vancouver 18-10 in Home Opener

The Philly-faithful piled into Wells Fargo Center to see their Wings take the field at home for the first time this season. The Philadelphia Wings took care of business on their home turf in an offensive frenzy topping the Vancouver Warriors 18-10. Kevin Crowley opened the scoring tonight netting his third goal of the year off an assist from Blaze Riordon. Later on in the game, Crowley secured his 300th career goal on a highlight-reel one-handed catch behind his head in traffic to catch and score. “I knew I was close but obviously wasn’t thinking about it at the time… Josh threw me that awful pass behind me and luckily I got a hold of it,” says Kevin Crowley on his milestone goal. This contest started out pretty tight with both teams being knotted at two a piece through the first quarter. But the Wings would pull away during the second, scoring four unanswered goals, including three within two minutes. Currier and Viteralli sparked the Wings offense with two goals each in the second quarter, Viteralli adding a helper as well. Closing out the half at 9-5 Trevor Baptist was dominant at the faceoff dot, basically allowing his team play make-it take-it. He added in two goals during the game, making this back-to-back games with multiple goals. Only in his second season, Baptist has found his rhythm in this league. “He could be an easy goal a game, and could have 18-20 goals every year in this league... the sky is the limit for him,” says Philadelphia Wings Coach Paul Day. Matt Rambo had the helping hand tonight as he dished out six assists. Although he did not find the back of the net himself, he found other ways to help contribute to the victory. Three Wings players netted three or more goals in tonight’s win. Kevin Crowley and Blaze Riordan had three goals each while Josh Currier had four. Riorden’s scores being his first of the season in front of the home crowd. As the goals poured on, the Vancouver Warriors made a goalie change just three minutes into the second quarter. The Vancouver Warriors had plenty of chances to come back in this one. They managed to get seven man-up opportunities, but only could convert on two of them. Joel McCready was the top scorer for the Warriors offense having himself a hattrick tonight. The Wings look to have a nice week of recovery as they have a two games next weekend starting with travelling up to play the New England Blackwolves. The milestone-man Kevin Crowley is no stranger to the team up in New England having played there just a few seasons ago. As the Wings look ahead to next week, Crowley knows this upcoming game has a deeper meaning. “That always adds for me just a little something more, a little bit extra hate in that game,” says Crowley on his former team.